CREDIT SUISSE AG’s representative office in the Philippines has ceased operations, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a circular, marking the Swiss lender’s exit from the country.
“The Monetary Board (MB), in its Resolution No. 709 dated (June 20), noted the cessation of operations of Credit Suisse AG Representative Office, Philippines,” the BSP said in a circular letter dated July 8 and signed by BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier.
The MB in 2018 granted Credit Suisse the authority to open a representative office in the Philippines for its wealth management business.
Credit Suisse’s representative office was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2018 and began operations in June that year.
The bank in 2011 established its onshore stock brokerage Credit Suisse Securities (Philippines), Inc. The brokerage ceased its trading operations in March this year.
These developments came following the merger between Credit Suisse and UBS AG following the former’s failure.
UBS in May this year completed the merger of the main parent companies of the Swiss bank and Credit Suisse, which it acquired last year after its longtime rival collapsed, putting an end to one of the bastions of the country’s financial sector, Reuters reported.
The merger concluded within the planned timeline and was facilitated by strong support from global regulators, said UBS.
The parent merger is expected to allow the Swiss bank to get started with trickier stages of the integration such as combining IT systems, migrating clients from Credit Suisse and cutting the enlarged bank’s workforce of more than 110,000.
The UBS absorption of Credit Suisse has left Switzerland with a single global bank, one boasting a balance sheet around twice the size of the country’s annual economic output. — LMJCJ with Reuters
